A truly bottom-up initiative has organically emerged to promote a more transparent and participatory community engagement process that will hopefully support the forthcoming decision-making about the potential relocation of Espoo International School (EIS) to Otaniemi.

The main activities of the process are reported in a new Blog aimed to capture as many EIS Community comments, concerns and insights about the positive and negative impacts as well as broader societal implications of moving EIS out of Opinmäki.

The forest-based (or wood-based) bioeconomy is an important sub-sector of the overall bioeconomy. In countries with an abundant forest resources the economic magnitude of forests in bioeconomy is high, for example in Finland, roughly half of total bioeconomy output. The countries with substantial forest resources and related advanced scientific and technological competences have good opportunities to play a role of forerunner in the modern future oriented bioeconomy.

In the context of the Forest-based Bioeconomy Areas in Uruguay by 2050 project VTT is leading with the support of the Office of Planning and Budgeting (OPP) of Uruguay and several representatives from government, business, research and civil society actors, Dr. Juha Honkatukia and Dr. Rafael Popper showed how the GTAP model can be used to identify future bioeconomy policy options for Uruguay.

Finnish experience on using modelling to support strategic planning

The session gives several examples on the use of economic modelling in the analyses of policies to boost the development of bioeconomy in Finland, ranging from the national energy and climate strategies to assessment of the viability and regional consequences of biorefineries.

GTAP model

The session on the GTAP model will cover the structure of the model and its core databases with emphasis on the applicability of the model on single-country analyses. As the GTAP data base covers bilateral trade on dozens of commodities and over a hundred countries, the session will also facilitate a discussion on the necessary aggregation of the basic data.

Thanks to the Kośmider family for letting me and my wife share our feelings about a great human being who will always be remembered in Poland, Europe and the world

Dear family members, friends and colleagues of very much loved and respected Tomasz Kośmider,

We are speaking here today, because we were fortunate to have spent quality time (professionally and personally) with Tomasz, his son Przemek and friends from Technology Partners. For this reason, we were asked to be the voice of many European colleagues who are with us in spirit; especially those from Knowledge4Innovation, of which Tomasz was Vice President.

Without any doubts, we can say that Tomasz transformed many lives.
The extent of his legacy is yet to be written and told in years to come.
We will always remember him as a warm man full of vitality and wisdom.
Someone who was equally determined and successful in building bridges.
Bridges enabling cross-sector and cross-border innovations and aspirations.

His positive attitude helped him find opportunities in barriers and challenges.
His dynamism, enthusiasm and humour were equally addictive and contagious.
His creativity, leadership and determination often translated into shared visions.
His kindness and compassion allowed him to make a difference and in a kind way. Tomasz could see bright and promising futures for Poland and Europe in many ways.

Science may never explain why humans exist and whether there is life after life.
For this reason, we would like to share our own, yet transferable philosophy of life. We do not consider physical departure from our body as ‘death’ or the end of a journey. People’s wonderful and unique spirit shall be relaunched into new dimensions fuelled by our energy. Therefore, we invite you to empower Tomasz with your best thoughts, memories and lessons learned.

Less than a month ago my wife (Monika) and I had the privilege to spend quality time with Tomasz Kośmider – a great human being capable of warming up the atmosphere of social networking and business meetings with inspiring out-of-the-box yet still down-to-earth innovative ideas. During our very intense and productive trip to Peru we discussed over a dozen ways of strengthening the Polish and European innovation landscape and he was a strong believer that a very bright and promising future was in the horizon for Poland’s science, technology and innovation system.

His sudden departure on Saturday 29th of July was both unexpected and frustrating since it is not easy to find a man like Tomasz with the endless creativity, remarkable dynamism and strong determination to make things happen. My sadness is certainly shared by over a thousand people and organisations he has helped and shaped with his professional and interpersonal skills, which made him such a unique and wonderful character. Several colleagues from around Europe and other parts of the world have also expressed their sorrow and admiration for Tomasz, who was regarded by Jos Leijten as someone ‘determined to make a difference and in a very kind way’, by Wolfgang Polt as ‘a lively advocate of the cause of innovation and above all a very nice person’, by Torsti Loikkanen as ‘very positive, warm spirit and intelligent’ and by Robbert Fisher as ‘not only a great colleague but also a warm friend. Inspired with a vision, and capable of pursuing what he believed in despite set backs and barriers’. As more people become aware of his departure I believe we will learn more about the real extent of his legacy. For now, I would simply like to share a few pictures that capture great moments we spent together. We will always remember him for his vitality, audacity and ingenuity to recognise opportunities for a wide range of Polish innovation stakeholders.

Obviously, among the most remarkable legacies of a man are his family and network of friends and beloved ones. We feel very fortunate to have met his son Przemek Kośmider with whom we shared both professional and personal moments. We send our condolences to the whole Kośmider family and all the people who like us will always remember Tomasz and his wonderful energy.

In the context of Universidad del Valle (UNIVALLE)’s efforts to further improve its research excellence (currently Top 3 in the country according to U-Sapiens ranking), an InternationalSeminar on Foresight and Sustainable Innovation took place in Cali on 13-14 July 2017.

The seminar was organised by Dr. Javier Medina Vásquez (Vice-Rector for Research of UNIVALLE) and attended by some 30 senior researchers, academics and postgraduate students. The main purpose of the seminar was twofold:

As the CASI project ended in June 2017, the seminar was fully funded by UNIVALLE in the spirit of strengthening linkages with VTT´s Business, Innovation and Foresight (BIF) Research Area and the scientific coordinators of the CASI Tutorial.

The success of the seminar can be measured by the fact that practically all participants completed the full course with a score of 80% or above in the self-assessment tasks, which resulted in most of them receiving a certificate of outstanding completion.

Certificate of Outstanding Completion

Furthermore, the news about the online course spread throughout Colombia with the participation of researchers and students from other universities such as Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá), Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá), Universidad Antonio Nariño (Bogotá), Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia (Medellín), Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá), among others. As a result, Colombia now stands in 1st position in terms number of participants and certificates on ‘Sustainable Innovation Assessment and Management’.

In the context of an intense knowledge transfer and networking agenda in Peru, the National Agrarian University La Molina organised a Seminar on the ART of Foresight and Sustainable Innovation (7 July 2017).

The seminar was attended by around 300 participants interested in European Commission efforts to address the societal challenge of ‘climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials’. To this end, the seminar focused on the recently published report on CASI-F: Common Framework for the Assessment and Management of Sustainable Innovation (Popper et al., 2017) and ways in which foresight fundamentals and processes can be systematically applied to anticipate, recommend, transform and evaluate sustainable futures.

The closing remarks from Dr. Victor Guevara (Professor at La Molina) highlighted several areas in which VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the National Agrarian University La Molina could collaborate in the near future.

The seminar was chaired by Eng. Javier Arrieta (Dean of CIP) and Eng. Isaias Quevedo. The high-level discussions targeted a selected group of stakeholders from the quadruple helix of sustainable innovation actors in Peru, including business, government, academia and civil society representatives.

The seminar consisted of two main blocks. In the first block Dr. Rafael Popper (Principal Scientist in Business, Innovation and Foresight at VTT) provided a panoramic overview of VTT’s foresight research and innovation activities followed by three keynote lectures on:

The second block allowed seminar participants to share experiences and brainstorm on future opportunities for joint projects between VTT, CIP and other stakeholders from the Peruvian science, technology and innovation system.

At the end of the seminar Dr. Popper received two institutional recognitions for his contributions to foresight activities in Peru. The first was a special ‘CIP Edition’ of Peruvian national liquor (Pisco) and the second was an engraved golden plaque from the National University of Engineering (UNI).